Payment cards such as credit cards and debit cards are in widespread use. In some environments, payment cards in the form of magnetic stripe cards prevail in terms of popularity. With mag stripe cards, the payment card account number may be read from the card at the point of sale by a magnetic stripe reader, and then submitted with a transaction authorization request to the account issuer via the payment network.
In other environments, it is common to use so-called “contactless” payment cards. With contactless payment cards, the payment card account number is stored in an integrated circuit (IC) within the card, and is read by short-range radio communication between the card and the contactless reader component of a point of sale (POS) device. With enhancements that have occurred to mobile phones, including smartphones, the capability has been added to perform NFC (near field communication) communications to enable so-called “contactless” payment cards to be digitized into these consumer devices. These mobile devices utilize a secure element (SE) to store the payment card account number and associated data, keys and Personal Identification Number (PIN) to enable the consumer to perform a payment transaction using the NFC short-range radio communications provided by the mobile device and the contactless reader component of a POS device. Typically, in the course of a payment transaction using a contactless payment card or a payment-enabled mobile phone, the device in question is tapped at an appropriate spot on the POS device reader component to allow for proximity communications between the payment device and the reader component.
Various protocols exist for performing a transaction between a contactless enabled card or mobile device and the reader component of a POS device. On occasion there can be mismatches between the reader component and other components in the payment acceptance system, such that the reader component may select a payment protocol for a transaction even though that payment protocol is not supported downstream in the electronic cash register (ECR) or point of sale terminal (POS), or merchant acquirer. When this occurs, an attempted payment transaction may be declined rather than accepted, even though the payment-enabled mobile device is in proper working condition and the payment account selected for use is valid and in good standing.